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Northwest Airlines


tBBP

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Well...no luck locating my Delta or Continental concepts anywhere on backup...(memo to self: BACK UP ALL BACKUPS...) And it sucks too cuz I spent probably more time on those two than any others on here. Oh well...guess now I get to do them over again...eventually...

Well I'm back off assignment, back in school, and back to posting. I wanted to show my Delta Air Lines concept next, but (read above), so it's on to Northwest. (For those who wish to view my previous concepts...here's American and here's United.

Okay now back to Northwest...recently this airline went through a rebranding, going from the graybird with the red tail to the ever-so-popular "flying silver bullet"--with the red tail, of course.

Now, for such a simplistic color scheme, I really didn't see too many feasible avenues of approach while trying to remain within the parameters of the new image of Northwest, so I tried to keep this one rather simple. Sinec black is now included, but not much, I threw some black in here, but tried to keep it to a minimum, enough to be noticeable but not so much to dominate the concept.

With the numerals, they are the closest match to the font NWA uses now. As far as NWA's updated logo, it's cool, but I like the old one better. It forms a "N" with an arrow pointing northwest, and the whole of the logo looks like a "W". (Quick note on that logo: I didn't catch this until after I saved it as a .png, but the logo on my primary helmet is facing the wrong way, and since I don't have my flashdrive, I can't go back and change it now.)

I really didn't do any special third outfit for this one, and that's in part because Northwest, in all seriousness, just isn't too fondly remembered, as far as with any sense of nostalgia--and even today some people ain't too fond of their services, or presumed lack thereof (get some in-flight entertainment already!!!), so I did what I felt would be something NWA would do--go the Detroit Lions route. (Go ahead and gulp now)...

As with all the others, the story: 1926 was the year this airline got underway, as Northwest Airmail Services, by a guy named L. Brittin (this guy is also associated with the births of most modern airlines, being that most all of them started as mail carriers that grew into passenger airlines).

Okay here it is folks. C&C as always...

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*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

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Call me nuts, but I really like these. The simplicity of the uniform design works very well with the simplicity of the new logo. And it's not like you simply colored in a template without any rhyme or reason, you definitely have a solid precedent for this. The worst thing in the world a designer can do is draw something and not be able to answer the question "Why does it look like this?" when somebody asks (I know it was death for us to do that during a critique in school ;)). Great job...

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Call me nuts, but I really like these. The simplicity of the uniform design works very well with the simplicity of the new logo. And it's not like you simply colored in a template without any rhyme or reason, you definitely have a solid precedent for this. The worst thing in the world a designer can do is draw something and not be able to answer the question "Why does it look like this?" when somebody asks (I know it was death for us to do that during a critique in school ;)). Great job...

Yeah...that was/is death to us in school here, too, having to stand in front of the group during critique and not being able to answer that most-feared question "why did you do it that way" or "why this look like that" or the like. That's part of the reason I preface each concept with an explanation, to answer the most potentially asked questions and then if anyone else has any after that, I can answer those.

This may be the plainest of my concepts save for my original Delta design (damn the thief who stole my jumpdrive!), but simplistic logo + simplistic livery = simple concept. (And then, the third outfit being done up in black a la Detroit Lions...for those in the know and those that don't, NWA has a hub in Detroit's airport. Get where I'm going with this...the Detroit link...

(Future hint: each of my concepts, or at least most, have some kind of link to a city in which the airline is either based in or a city that has a sizeable operation...keep on the lookout for those links...)

'Preciate the comments...keep them coming!

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

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Ah, this is one case where the throwback would definitely be the preferred uniform - a red helmet with the old circle-N logo.

Of course, since Northwest's trademark is the red tail (supposedly so its Circle Route flights over Alaska could be found if they went down in a snowbank) maybe the seats of the pants should be red? :)

(classic piece of graffitti at the Detroit airport: "NWA-Nimrods With Airplanes.")

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(classic piece of graffitti at the Detroit airport: "NWA-Nimrods With Airplanes.")

I remember seeing that. THAT was classic. For an airline that COULD be so great, I have no idea how they've allowed themselves to be preceived as the grunts of the industry...or how they retain their "loyal customers". Oh well...

Does anyone else out there got any two cents to add to this?

I do believe US Airways will be up next...and eventually I will get back around to remodeling Delta and Continental, and when they're done, they'll be up.

Keep the C&C coming.

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

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There's got to be some fun you can have with the old North Central/Republic goose

Web page in German, but you get the idea

Yeah Imma definitely have to work out something with Republic. That don't look too shabby at all. It's gon be a while before I can get to it though...

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

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Random question. Would the other side of the helmet be painted with the compass arrow pointing NE or would you reverse it so the arrow pointed in the correct direction on both sides?

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Random question. Would the other side of the helmet be painted with the compass arrow pointing NE or would you reverse it so the arrow pointed in the correct direction on both sides?

Actually the logo on the helmet in the top box is facing the wrong way. That was a straight slip-up. The logo would be facing towards the front of the helmet on the reverse side, to mimic the tailfin of NWA's aircraft. The little arrow is equilateral, so whether it is facing frontwards or "backwards", either way it could still be pointing "northwest", as someone noted in a previous thread of mine (second page of this concept).

*Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. 😁

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  • 3 months later...

A throwback with a plain red helmet would be cool. NW's funny, it's like they just couldn't stand having nothing on the tail even if the plain red tail screamed Northwest. Of course, it wasn't always plain.

If memory serves, the tails were originally painted red because they flew in a lot of snowy country and a red tail would aid in finding an aircraft if a forced landing became necessary.

I always thought "Northwest Orient" was a cool name and was bummed when they dropped the second word.

I disagree with the "equilateral" thing. It may technically be true that the triangle points northwest, but it's just plain goofy to have it in what would be the northeast quadrant of a compass circle. IMHO of course... :P

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